Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) said it is targeting an expansion of its BRICKLIVE brand in 2020 as it kicked off the year with higher contracted revenues.
The media firm said in a trading update for the year ended 31 December that it has secured £3mln in recognised revenues for the coming year, over 50% higher than 2019, while it is also aiming to build up to 16 BRICKLIVE themed tours before the end of 2020.
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“There have been 71 BRICKLIVE events globally and we are now working with three international IP partners and have access to 12 IP properties”, said Live Company chairman David Ciclitira.
“We recently announced our partnership with eOne, part of Hasbro Inc., and today we announce that we have increased our BRICKLIVE partner base to include Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. We will continue to develop the BRICKLIVE brand and I look forward to keeping shareholders updated going forward", he added.
For the year just gone, the company expects to report revenues of £5.5mln, 12% higher than 2018, while underlying earnings (EBITDA) are to swing to £700,000 from a £400,000 loss in the prior year.
The company said that while its touring and event divisions had exceeded expectations, 2019’s results were below market forecasts and had been adversely impacted by lower than expected licence and content fees from its Chinese market, as well as fewer corporate builds and lower returns from its BRICKLIVE show in Birmingham.
Live Company said the lower incomes from China were due to a “general macro-economic environment and slowdown in the region”, while delays to certain other revenues meant incomes expected for 2019 were now due in the first quarter of 2020.
The shares were down 17.3% at 24.8p in early trading on Friday.
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